Alonso wants Chelsea to be title challengers

New boss Xavi Alonso says he expects Chelsea to be competing for the Premier League title this season.

Alonso, who spoke to the media for the first time on Monday following his appointment earlier this month, will take over a Blues side that finished outside the European places last season and endured a difficult campaign that saw the club go through two permanent managers.

Chelsea have not won the league since 2017 but the former Real Madrid coach is confident his new club are good enough to challenge Arsenal and Manchester City.

Alonso said: “Time will tell and we need to make important decisions and strong decisions

“I will not say what will happen in May, but I am optimistic we can have a great season.

“We need to do many right things; how we want to play, approach games wherever we go. That is my job.

“We want to be there (challenging), but we are ambitious and are hungry for success.”

Alonso added that his first impression of the squad is that they are determined to improve on last season’s poor showing.

“I’m sure and I have felt already that they want to have a good season. After last year, we are starting from zero – some new faces from the staff, from the manager,” he said.

“But they are really keen on what we are doing. You see that the energy is good. The excitement is there.

“We need to prepare well, we have time for that. It is really important that we build the right mentality to compete, we build the right basics.”